May 1st 2015

A tad late but I did take some photo's of the May 1st events this year. Kreuzberg was packed with parties, clubs, cafes, street concerts and food all making for an amazing atmosphere. See previous posts for more details,  2011 here, 2012 here and 2014 here.

A few people showed up.

BBQ (though some bars look like this on any given night thanks the smokes)

Anyone who was anyone was there.

A few more people showed up.

Sneaking a snog.

Hallo :)

 These four girls were part of a large group that photo bombed my camera and then ran off into the crowd. Very... photogenic.

Frank and Ollie both turned up in the same outfit, Ollie was not impressed.

Ciao for now
Andy

May 1st 2014

The 1st of May has come about again, right on schedule. I'm posting photos this time around for some of the new things I found. For those curious about the big party, check out the previous posts here and here.

general ambiance

 Crossing the street on a red signal, Das ist Verboten!

Ready for a climb but anxious.

  This was an amazing setup, a climbing event for kids. A trio of (I assume pro) climbers setup a climbing rope and harnesses on a tree at Marianenplatz. The idea was for kids to strap on the gear and then be challenged to stack beer crates while climbing the stack. Brillant idea and loads of safe fun. Not a chance it would fly anywhere in North America I suspect.

This girl did quite well.

The girl doing the climbing was really....really good, great balance.

However this girl was the champ, they ran out of crates to hand up.

Out of crates, she just leaned back to great applause.

  Great fun to watch each tower crumble and all smiles as each kid was lowered to the grass.

AJ

Berlin Kulture

Not long after the May first events in Berlin is the annual Karneval Der Kulturen . You can see more from that in previous posts here but this year we found a park with these guys below.

  They had drum sets setup and drew a big crowd.

This guy was in the crowd and spontaneously joined in.

  Great sounds and beat had the place jumping. Looking forward to next years impromptu park concert.

Andy

A few faces in the crowd

Just a few folks in the crowd from this years May Day party on Oranienstrasse in Kreuzberg

To each their own.

Like it says, Berlin Hustles Harder.

Caio for now
Andy

Berlin's 775 Geburtstag (Birthday)

In 2012 Berlin celebrated its 775th birthday. That age depends on when you consider Berlin to have been founded but the first documented mention of the town of Cölln in 1237 is considered a dependable date. However the oldest church still standing in Berlin (Nikolaikirche) celebrates its 800th anniversary this year.... and I come from Canada which began its formal existence in 1867:)

  A number of events were happening in the city and I went to see a fire performance around the old city centre. At the same time, the Titanick street theatre group had a number of performance areas in Alexanderplatz where they created medieval versions of the “beyond” as well as interpreting the nightmare world of Hieronymos Bosch and Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy. I found this next to the French fire performance troupe, Compagnie Carabosse. I didn't follow what the theme of these performances was at the time so to come across this was interesting, surreal and curious.

I need to brush up on my Dante I think.

  Across the platz was an amazing looking fire and water creation with someone dressed in a large head dress. By the time I got over there it had finished unfortunately. Below is the stage with water cannons and fire mortars around.

 After the performance.

  Part of the fire performance area was in a large field next to the Berlin Dom. There were numerous furnaces with funnels operated by performers who would send giant fire balls into the sky.

Strings of fire pots.

A mechanical array of fire pots. It raises to this position and then unfolds down to a large circular shape.

  Titanick was interesting but if I knew the theme I'm sure it would have been better. The Compagnie Carabosse performances were visually great, I hope to see more of them another day. -Andy

May Day 2012

This years May 1st was relatively peaceful, certainly it was on Oranienstrasse anyway. It was about 8 square blocks of closed roads with live music in the street. Great vibe and atmosphere. Local store owners setup temporary bar's out front of their stores, beer or mixed drinks for a fairly decent price. To those in Vancouver, dream on....

Wow, once again Berlin shows how a street party should happen. More photo's at the Flickr site.

Tschüss